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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Not so much achievement here. I wanted to get all my six pieces playing fluently, well it did not happen during my 10 day holidays. I can barely play through the Bach prelude with the book but am not sure what my teacher would say about my choice of dynamics - she has not heard this one yet. It will take at least two months to play this for others, it won't stick to my brain like Chopin. After all its Bach. For the nocturne, I marked tough spots and started practicing from there (page 2 and 4). For Elergie, I am using two different metronome settings to nail down polyrhythm for each of such spot. It's tedious! For Schubert and Chopin Trois Etude, it's a matter of practicing more.

Emma can play with command now. But it requires me to give her treat if I want her to play more than one note. She trained me. She keeps hitting a single note until I produces a snack. Then she gives me a kind of three note hits! But she played glissando for my husband though - she does not do it to me yet.

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

wimpiano, yes I got the Zoom (H4n) for Christmas. I chose it after reading several threads on PW and searching the web, and my husband complied . As soon as it arrived - way before Christmas - I tried it and posted my first recording on Ecco Fatto Cafè.It's a nice device, maybe more than I deserve because I'm not into recording and similar thing. My husband played with the multitrack option (recording himself plying twice his sax on the same record) and had fun.

warlock214 - Any record of your participation in the Boy Scouts' Christmas Program?wimpiano - The cameras do not bother me ... I stay focused on the music. Btw, how is your daughter? Saranoya - Wow, playing at a railway station? And with applauses? That's awesome! Congrats!Andy - Sorry, I know I'm late... I just wanted to say happy birthday.AZ_Astro - I like to play different pianos, too. It's an wounderfull experience, isn't it?ElleC - When can we hear your Waltz in Am?earlofmar - I know what you mean... Mental blocks are hard to fight... Good luck with your scales.WiseBuff - " I play piano just to enjoy touching the keys and making nice sounds come out." casinitaly - Wow, a nephew? I wish all the best for the whole family! Congratulations! SwissMS - Playing for fun is the best play "mode" we can have Sand Tiger - How is the pain in your finger?Ragdoll - Good luck with your interview paul1971 - I'm glade you can play all the pieces without having the music socre in front of you. Can you share some of the videos?aTallGuyNH - Wow, are you already working for our next ABF recital???torquenale - Can we see some of the videos...?

FarmGirl - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

My AOTW is related with the filming. We went to a hotel to play a piano and to see the lights and the decor. I think this is a perfect spot but the producer is who will decide the locations. Anyway, I was with my daughter and someone took this picture:

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

Thank you everyone for wonderful birthday wishes. Would love to get younger at this point. But I'm happy being alive and get to enjoy piano. Had I been born to a country engaging wars or even in the same country 70 years ago, I would not have had luxury to indulge in a hobby like this. Not to mention developing a piano playing dog genius. Thank you again and may you have a wonderful year!

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

And a special Happy Birthday to Farmgirl. Your hard work, good humor, and enthusiasm are infectious!

Thank you Jim!I shared it with Emma and she loved it too!I printed it and posted in Emma's room.

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

As my (non-piano related) non achievement, let me wine. I think this is the worst day to be born.

I called Indian restaurants and Japanese Restaurants around the area and they are all closed. Big restaurants are doing New Year's Eve celebration and does not carry normal menus today. I'm used to it. It was worse in Japan.

In Japan, today is the national cleaning day. Women (notice its not men) dust off ceiling, open the windows, wash floor (its very cold) to prepare for the new year. Men were drinking all day - called "finishing old years sake duty". Then we had to refrain from rich food and eat buckwheat noodle to safely "pass over" the old year to new year. My parents used to wake us kids up at midnight and took us to a shrine / temple to get sesame smoke (believed to make kids smarter, did not work for us) over our heads. After the sesame smoke in the sub zero temperature, we endured the long drive (by a drunken family member) over icy road and frozen rice paddy (off road) to get the glimpse of the "1st sunrise" over the ocean. Well now that I vented I feel much better.

Happy new year! Hope your new year is musical, healthy and full of fine dining!

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

I bought a book of Tchaikovsky op 39 complete (I`d listedned to a few and liked `em greatly) for five smackeroos on Amazon. AND I saw an antique piano stool on ebay which`ll go really well wi my new Digital (slab). Hope to acqire that tomorrow . . . .

At the moment I`m lyin` on me stomache on the floor typing this . . I`m babysitting. . . .Might be OK for kids but not when yer 65 . . . . !

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"I'm playing all the right notes ï¿½ but not necessarily in the right order." Eric Morecambe

My eldest grandson was born on NYE so I always made it a point to give him separate gifts for Christmas and his birthday. I think kids born during the holidays often feel cheated if they get a combined gift.

I wish you the absolute best in the coming year with your piano studies and life in general.

Have you tried contacting the head of the music department at nearby colleges to ask they can point you toward a good classical teacher? Also, piano tuners and techs usually know all the teachers in an area, so you could get in touch with the head of the local RPT chapter..................

Jim

Follow-up: I visited the head of the music department, talked about what I was looking for, and she set me up with an adjunct teacher who has 30 yrs experience, teaches adults, and teaches classical.

I basically signed up sight-unseen with this teacher, though I had read her CV previously. There is some risk having not met the teacher in person, but (1) she came highly recommended and has good credentials (2) it's a commitment to 15 lessons (a semester), so not a big money commitment (quite inexpensive on a per lesson basis, actually) (3) I could spend months looking and interviewing and lose my nerve, so this seemed like a good place to get my feet wet.

My ATOW was simply a decision to start interval exercises as of today. Why I haven't done so yet is a mystery, I guess I may have hoped it would develop naturally (although it has for easy intervals). So armed with a set of flashcards, a few minutes a day working at them should be enough.

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I thought I understood endurance sport; then I took up piano XXXVII-8-XXX

For the first time I understood why people said "the piano sings" or this piano is singing beatifully. When my teacher played a tune on the grand I was confused and wondered when did someone start to sing only after like 2 seconds I heard that it was actually the piano that sang.This is my best musical experience so far.

No major AOTW for me.I decided to track all my practice sessions and the idea is to calculate the total playing time by month / year. I have created a sheet with all days of the year, and I have a stopwatch to use each time I sit down at the piano. At the end of the day, I write the total time played, on the sheet.

I use this system since middle October, and because I play with the rule "everytime I can", sometimes I'm surprised with the time I spend playing the piano...